Maximalist Decor Tips for Your Small Apartment Bedroom | Tiny Space, BIG STYLE!
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What do you do when you have maximalist decor taste, but your small space is anything but maximal? Well, I have good news: you don’t need a big space to pull off maximalist interior design!
In this post, I’m giving you my tips on how to create maximalist style in a small bedroom, based on my years of experience in cramming all the maximalism I could into my small apartments over the years - including my old 500 sq ft studio apartment.
So if you love big, dramatic maximalist home decor but you live in a small apartment, continue on for my tips for creating a maximalist bedroom!
Would you rather watch than read? Here’s the video! ↓
1. Maximalism is about attitude, not clutter.
So my first tip for creating a maximalist decor look in a tiny bedroom is to keep in mind that it's about attitude, not clutter.
A lot of people (cough minimalists cough 😉) say that maximalism is just clutter, that it's just romanticizing the idea of a messy room. And that could not be further from the truth! Maximalism is not just clutter, it's an attitude. And when executed well, it shouldn't feel like clutter.
This is good news for us small apartment dwellers, because it means that we don't need to cram a whole bunch of stuff in our tiny apartments in order to achieve maximalism.
So in order to make maximalism work in your small bedroom, or anywhere in your small apartment, you first need to shift your mindset that maximalism is about attitude, not clutter. With maximalism, it doesn't matter how many things you have, it's about buying the right things, the things that convey the maximalist attitude.
Okay, now that we've covered the maximalist mindset and attitude, let's get into some of the more specific decor tips that I have for creating maximalism in a small bedroom.
2. Consider wallpaper
Wallpaper is an excellent way to make a big maximalist decor statement in your bedroom in one fell swoop without taking up any space. So it's perfect for a small bedroom! If you put up just one big accent wall with a dramatic print, then your maximalism is pretty much just taken care of in that one action.
For example, look at my bedroom before the wallpaper and after:
After we put up this wallpaper, suddenly this became a maximalist bedroom.
So if you have a tiny bedroom, you might want to consider doing a big statement wall with wallpaper. It pretty much does all of the maximalist heavy lifting for you without taking up additional space in your small bedroom!
By the way, we used peel and stick wallpaper from this Etsy shop. They sell incredibly beautiful peel and stick wallpaper, and the majority of it is very maximalist style friendly.
You can also watch this video to see the our whole wallpapering process in our bedroom! ↓
3. Small details can bring big style
This tip is kind of the opposite of the last one, which was all about making one big statement that takes care of the maximalism for you. This one is about zeroing in on the small details that don't take up that much space.
There are a bunch of things in my apartment that are small in size, but they pack a punch when it comes to the statement they're making. And it was the same thing in my last apartment, which was a 500 square foot studio apartment. That was a tiny space, but I think for all intents and purposes it was a pretty maximalist space.
So here are a few examples of how I have conveyed maximalism through small decor details.
Sparkly throw pillowThere's this sparkly, decorative pillow that basically acts like a disco ball when the light hits it. I mean, if a sparkly fairy explosion in your apartment isn't maximalism, I don't know what is.
Large FloralsI've also utilized large faux floral arrangements to convey a bit of maximalism in the apartment. One of my favorite places to get faux florals and plants is World Market, and I made a video all about shopping for them you can watch here:
So go to a place like World Market and check out their larger stems and their larger vases and see if you can put together a kind of a larger scale faux floral arrangement. You can also do it with real flowers, but they die, so… 🙃
And what's great about creating a large floral arrangement is that even though it may be large in size, it still doesn't take up that much physical space in the apartment. It really is more vertical space than it takes up. So in that sense, it's great for making a big statement in a physically small space.
LightingYour choice of lighting is a great opportunity for making a maximalist decor statement in your space. Because of course you're going to have lamps in your apartment, so why not choose lamps that convey the maximalist aesthetic?
I mean, you could argue that these lamps I have are pretty maximalist. They're small, but they convey a big statement. There's drama in them, there's sparkle, there's gold, there's brass, there's marble. Lamps like these may be small, but they pack that dramatic maximalist punch!
So this tip is really just all about finding all the little ways that you can convey maximalism, all the little decor pieces that may be small in size, but convey that sense of drama, and they don't take up physical space in your little apartment or bedroom.
4. Use decadent patterns & textures
My next tip for conveying maximalism in a small bedroom is to focus on texture.
When it comes to maximalism, this means choosing materials that convey a sense of decadence. At the risk of stating the obvious, even if you live in the tiniest apartment in the world, you still have to buy furniture, blankets, a bedspread… You know, these are things that you must have. So we're not even talking about buying things that just clutter up a space. These are things that you will be buying regardless of how tiny your apartment is.
So when shopping for things like your bedspread, like your nightstand, like your decorative pillows, think about choosing materials and fabrics that convey maximalism.
For example, in my studio, I chose area rugs that conveyed a sense of drama. They instantly created a sense of maximalism without taking up additional space.
Another example is velvet. Anytime you can incorporate a material like velvet in your space, it will add an air of luxury. So like our velvet bedspread here, its velvety texture combined with its kind of eye popping, greenish gold color, that conveys a sense of maximalism.
And again, we all need bedspreads. It's not like you're taking up additional space in your small bedroom by getting a bedspread. You need a bedspread. So if you want to convey maximalism in your bedroom, you. might as well choose a bedspread that conveys that sense of drama!
5. Good storage is a maximalist’s friend
My final tip for creating maximalism in a small bedroom is definitely more of a practical one, but it is important! And that is to make sure your storage game is on point.
This is how we make a small bedroom feel like it's stylish and intentionally maximalist, rather than a cluttered, messy room. And of course this can be really tough in a small apartment! That’s why I made a video about it, in which I give you my storage tips that we employed in our apartment. So give that a watch if you want my more detailed storage tips!
Basically, if I were to sum up storage in relation to achieving a maximalist decor vibe in a bedroom, it would just simply be that we have to be super intentional about what takes up space. Do you want your limited space to be taken up by random clutter that doesn't contribute to the style of your space? Or do you want to dedicate the limited physical space that you have to the style that you've been yearning for, the style that you connect with, and would contribute to your overall mood every day?
And this doesn’t only apply to maximalism, of course! With any style you want to achieve in a small space, just think about all the little ways in which you are creating that style with intention versus the ways you are detracting from it. And let me tell you, random clutter will kill the style that you are going for, whatever style it is.
So those were my tips for creating a maximalist look in a small bedroom! And really, these tips can easily be applied to any room in your small apartment.
